


Frozen Heart, Rotting Soul

by ideliagirl



Series: Things you'd find north of the wall [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, People being horrible snobs, disparaging comments the author does NOT believe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-11 11:27:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideliagirl/pseuds/ideliagirl
Summary: Jon and Sansa travel to White Harbor to have dinner with their old friend Edd and his new girlfriend. And they find out she's the worst.Set three years after Three-Eyed Raven.





	Frozen Heart, Rotting Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently I'm easily distracted with new fic ideas, because I hadn't planned to make this a series. But alas, this got in my head and wouldn't get out. 
> 
> Hope you like it.
> 
> Set three years after Three-Eyed Raven.

Sansa awoke on her own, that much she knew. Even wrapped up together so tight they couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began, Jon would never wake her up solely to pounce on her. He would, however, pounce on the opportunity to make their morning more interesting the _very_ moment she did wake.

“I love when you shave your legs at night.” He whispered against the top of her head. “I mean, I love your legs even when your leg hair is the length of Ghost’s, but when they’re smooth as you slide them against my own? Fucking heaven, baby.”

She took a deep breath without opening her eyes. “While I appreciate any part of me being referred to as heaven—“

“I have referred to virtually _every_ part of you as heaven.”

“—I feel I must ask,” she smiled sleepily. “when has my leg hair ever been the length of Ghost’s?”

“After you came back from living in King’s Landing and you ate potato chips for every meal and never changed out of your pajamas.”

“Well,” she bent her leg up and around his side to rest the heel of her foot in the small of his back. “you never felt my legs slide against your own during that time.”

“I know.” He pouted, his hand trailing up the back of her thighs to her bare and rapidly moistening heat. “But I loved your legs—and you—even then.”

“Hmm. Do you count how many breaths out of REM sleep I need to take before you can initiate morning sex without seeming like a total lech?”

“ _Initiate_ morning sex, you say? I’ll have you know, I wouldn’t have even mentioned it.” Jon gently grasped the hem of her sleep t-shirt and pulled it up her body and over her head. “But since _you_ mentioned it……..”

Sansa chuckled lowly, nudging his boxers down over his ass with her toes. “Uh-huh, pretty sure we’re virtually always thinking alike in that regard.”

“Yes, but,” he reached between them to circle his forefinger against the throbbing bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. “I can still throw a few good surprises your way.”

“Not good. The _best_ surprises.” She reached between them too and wrapped her soft palm around his length. “Do we have time?”

He looked over her shoulder at the alarm clock. “Loads of time. And I’m gonna make good use of it with all that I wanna do to you.”

He leaned in to mouth at her breast, sliding the forefinger that had been circling her nub down deep inside her slick heat and allowed his thumb to take on the job it had just vacated. She moaned low at the sweet intrusion and nipped his collarbone, then tongued it soothingly.

He added another finger and extended their reach into her tight walls. She gasped when he hit the spot within her that she hadn’t even really believed existed until he’d found it, her hand squeezing him a little harder, her wrist twisting from base to tip.

“Fuck, Sans, I love your tits.” He bit her nipple gently, his hot breath flushing her chest, his other hand threading in her hair and pulling slightly. “Gods damn, it really shouldn’t be this good when I’m not even inside you yet.”

“I think you may have mentioned before that you love my tits.” She joked, licking a path up to the crook of his neck. “And if you’re complaining that it’s too good without you even having fucked me yet, then do something about it and fuck me.”

“All in good time.” He growled playfully when she groaned in frustration and curled his fingers inside her. “Besides, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I don’t make you come at least _once_ before with just my fingers?”

The hand that wasn’t working him clutched his bicep, her nails digging into the flesh. “I’m too turned on to answer that correctly, but suffice it to say, you are a _really good_ boyfriend.” Her head reared back, her legs stiffened, the grasp on his length went slack and she stuttered out a sexy moan as she came around his fingers. She exhaled deep once her shaking subsided. “A really, really good one.”

“Damn, sweetling. That took all of ninety seconds.” He fused their lips together then transitioned to light pecks on her jaw. “What’s gotten into you lately?”

She laughed at the grin on his face. “Oh, lose the smug look. It’s not you, or at least it’s not _all_ you.”

“Well,” he winked, rolling them so she was on her back and he was atop her. “this next part will require both me _and_ you, and will take much longer than ninety seconds. You game?”

She continued laughing, wrapped her arms around his neck and sexily bit his lip. “I’m game. So very, very ga—“

They were stopped cold by the ringing of an alarm.

“Wha--?” He mumbled.

She looked over at the clock that read **6am**. “The hell, Jon? I thought you said we had time?”

“We _do_ have time. We have a whole hour.” He leaned across her to the nightstand and picked up the clock to turn it off. “Why the hell is the alarm going off a full hour early?”

“Really?” She looked at him in disbelief, placed her palms flat on his chest and gently pushed him off her. “You really don’t remember?” She got out of the bed and slipped her t-shirt back over her head. “I told you last night that we had to get up at 6am so we could carpool and be at work early, so we can both _leave_ work early and drive all the way down to White Harbor to have dinner with Edd and his new girlfriend.”

He sat up and shielded his eyes when she turned on the light to their bedroom. “When did you tell me that?”

“Last night. When I set the alarm.”

“Last night……you mean after you’d gotten out of the shower?” He moaned and his head clunked back against the headboard. “Oh Sans, you know I can’t hear anything you say with any comprehension when you’re hot, wet and only wearing a towel.”

“Nevertheless.” She chuckled, leaning over to kiss him lightly. “We haven’t seen him in over a year, he’s one of your best friends from The Watch, and we’re not cancelling.”

“No, he’s not. Edd? Who’s that? Edd? I don’t even like him.” He grasped her hand and tried coaxing her back to bed. “I _hate him_. If I had a time machine, I’d go back and kill him with friendly fire. So….no reason to go to White Harbor and you can come back to bed.” He watched in defeat as she extracted herself and went into the hallway. “Sans…..”

“I’m letting Ghost out! Make sure to let him back in after you’re done in the shower!”

He flopped down and put his pillow over his head when he heard the dog bark and back door slam. “Sans….” he whimpered. “ _come back_.”

 

 

 

Jon picked Sansa up in his car that afternoon and hours later they were walking toward the restaurant in White Harbor, finding Edd on the sidewalk looking around expectantly.

“Edd!” Jon shouted, strongly embracing his friend when they reached each other.

Edd hugged back, solidly slapping him on the back. “Lord Commander!”

“I’m not Lord Commander anymore, Edd.”

“Lady Sansa.” Edd smiled at Sansa warmly. “You look real nice tonight.”

Sansa placed a light kiss on his cheek. “Hi, Edd. Thank you.”

Edd closely examined Sansa’s lips and then Jon’s neck, pointing. “Uh, Jon, you have lipstick on your neck…..and your jaw…..and your ear.” Shaking his head in amusement after Jon basically wiped his hand over the whole right side of his head. “Seriously? You guys are together more than three years and you can’t stay off each other for the length of a single car ride?”

“She couldn’t.” Jon grinned, pointing at Sansa. “I was driving.”

Sansa chuckled, not denying it. “And it was a _long_ car ride.”

“So,” Jon rubbed his palms together. “where’s this girl of yours?”

“Parking the car.” Edd gestured to the lot.

“Your car?” Jon questioned in disbelief. “You’re finally letting someone besides you drive the Ranger?”

“Oh, we didn’t take _his car_.” A voice giggled from behind them. “That thing would probably fall apart just on the drive to the restaurant.”

“Jon Snow, Sansa Stark,” Edd began his introduction, coming to stand beside a striking blonde woman decked out in gold jewelry, too much makeup and designer clothes. “This is Lynesse Hightower.”

Jon shook the woman’s hand, standing aside for Sansa to do the same and greet the woman. “Nice to meet you, Lynesse.”

“Something wrong with the Ranger, Edd?” Jon asked, concerned. “Didn’t think a mechanic like you would ever let anything happen to a car you loved that much.”

Edd began to respond, but was cut off by Lynesse as she laughed. “No, there’s nothing _technically_ wrong with it, but _my_ car is a Lannister model Tywin, so which car do you think we would actually drive to a restaurant I picked out?”

Sansa had to bite her lip to keep from responding and saw Jon shake his head, then incline it toward the front door. “Maybe we should all go inside.”

Inside, the genders sort of naturally segregated, leaving Jon and Edd on one side of the Maitre’d stand to talk old times and Sansa and Lynesse to stare awkwardly on the other.

“That is a lovely dress you’re wearing, Lynesse.” Sansa began by way of an ice-breaker.

“Oh, thank you. I had it parcel-delivered from Oldtown, you can’t find much in a place like White Harbor.” She said, snidely referring to The North’s most cosmopolitan city, then looked Sansa over from head to toe. “And your dress is…….. _charming_.”

“Oh, thanks.” Sansa smoothed down the green dress she’d chosen for tonight because green was Jon’s favorite color on her. “I got it at _Septa’s Clothing_. It’s a chain store, I’m pretty sure they have one here in White Harbor.”

“Oh, they do.” Lynesse waved her hand dismissively. “But I guess I just think if the clothes cost less than the dinner we’re about it eat, they can’t be very good.”

“Uh-huh. Will you excuse me?” She asked Lynesse and moved over to Jon, tugging on his sleeve and whispering in his ear. “The sooner we eat, get out of here and away from _her_ —the better it will be.”

Thankfully they were interrupted to be seated the next moment.

At the table—with Jon and Sansa on one side, Lynesse and Edd on the other—a waiter asked if they wanted wine. Three of them responded in the affirmative.

“Not for me.” Sansa answered, touching Jon’s arm. “So, you go ahead, and I’ll take over driving home.”

“Home. Oh, that’s right! Edd said you live around Winterfell.” Lynesse shook her head and smiled superiorly. “What made you want to settle _there_? Let me guess, you both must be _from_ there.”

“Uh, yeah.” Jon replied, narrowing his eyes slightly. “How’d you guess that?”

“Well, those small Northern hamlets seem to hold the most appeal for the people who actually grew up in them.”

Sansa chuckled under her breath. “And let me go out on limb and say you’re new to White Harbor?”

“Well it’s not a very long limb to go out on, obviously.” Lynesse flipped a curl away from her face with her fingers. “No, I’m of the Hightower family from The Reach, of course.”

“That’s a long way from White Harbor.” Jon pointed out.

“I know, I know…….it gets worse. I was on vacation at Casterly Rock when I fell in love with a man from Bear Island.” She cringed. “I guess falling in love makes people fools, because I actually married him and followed him _back to Bear Island_ , if you can believe such a thing.”

Sansa grit her teeth, resisting the urge to pick up her knife and stab the other woman with it. “Jon and I actually love Bear Island.”

“Yeah,” Jon smiled, taking Sansa’s potentially knife-wielding hand in his. “We go there every year for our anniversary.”

“There isn’t a nice hotel on Bear Island.” Lynesse stated glibly. “What do you two manage to do on this anniversary?”

“Oh, nothing you’d enjoy, I’m sure.” Sansa smirks. “We go camping. You know—sleeping bags, open fires and looking up at the stars.”

“Ugh.” Lynesse almost gagged. “And you find that _fun_?”

_Oh my gods, Jon. Oh my gods, YES. Yes, right there. Gods, your fucking tongue._

_Fuck. Sweet, beautiful Sansa. Bend your leg behind your neck again……oh, yeah, that’s so good._

 

“Umm.” Jon clears his throat and coughs loudly. “Yeah. Yeah, we have a _really_ good time.”

“To each their own, I guess.” Lynesse shrugs and looks to Edd as he pours three of them a glass of the wine the waiter brought over. “Anyway, when I left my husband, I came down to White Harbor to catch a cruise ship back to The Reach, and I guess my personal style caught the eye of the yacht club owner who was _desperately_ trying to class-up the place and he offered me a job as a coordinator. Once I made him double the salary he offered me, I thought ‘ _what the hell, I’m young and still have a few years to waste in The North’_ so I stayed on.”

“Huh.” Sansa uttered.

“Huh.” Jon parroted the same, quickly moving his attention to Edd. “So, you still doing well as a mechanic at the yacht club?” Continuing when Edd smiled and nodded. “See? Told you believing in yourself and transferring to train as a mechanic at Eastwatch after I left would pay off.”

“Well, I sure as hell wasn’t gonna stick around Castle Black with Thorne as Lord Commander.” Edd laughed with Jon joining in. “Like The Wall wasn’t a miserable frozen hellhole enough without that prick being in charge.”

“How long have you been retired from The Night’s Watch, Jon?” Lynesse asked, clearly dissatisfied with no longer being the center of attention.

“Four years now.” Jon answered, turning to Sansa and smiling gently as she smiled sweetly in return. “Sans and I have been best friends for nearly half our lives, but didn’t get together until about a year after I came home.”

_Gods, Sansa. I can’t believe I never touched you like this until four days ago. I can’t believe I never realized I loved Every. Single. Thing. About. You. until mother-fucking Greyjoy pointed it out to me._

_Fuck, Jon, I love you more than anything on the planet, and I want more than anything to be with you. But if you mention Theon again while your mouth is between my legs, I’ll leave you before our one week anniversary._

 

“So three years? Been together three years and _still_ not married?” Lynesse questioned suspiciously. “Can anyone really ever say they have a chance of staying together without a wedding ring?” She shrugged before fluttering her eyelashes and sneering. “Marriage is the only true determining factor as to whether a relationship will last.”

“Says the only person at the table to ever have a spouse and leave them.” Sansa snarked as she reached over to Jon’s wineglass and took a drink. “Anyway, we just moved into a new house together.”

“ _New_ house or just new house _together_?” Lynesse continued, either not paying attention to Sansa’s previous dig or deludedly thinking Sansa wasn’t talking about her. “Because there’s a difference. What do the two of you do for a living?”

“Uh, babe.” Edd cut in. “I told you—Jon’s the guy that works with most of the retired Brothers to help them find new careers.”

“Oh, well….” Lynesse began, then furrowed her eyebrows. “Don’t they all have apps on their smartphones that can tell them that?”

“No.” Jon responded through clenched teeth. “No, they don’t.”

Sansa reached behind his back to lightly soothe him and took over their response. “And I just got my Master’s in Anthropology.”

“Yeah,” Edd added nicely. “Last time I talked to Jon he went on and on about how proud he was of her.”

Sansa nudged Jon’s shoulder playfully. “Did you?”

Jon looked at her like she’d grown a third eye for asking the question. “Of course.”

Edd raised a glass. “To Sansa’s big achievement!”

The three of them with wine clinked their glasses.

“So, are you going to get your PhD?” Lynesse asked before the wineglasses were even back on the table.

“Um, maybe. I’m working on it, slowly but surely, at Winterfell U.” Sansa replied. “I already just got a job I completely love, though. Teaching at Deepwood Motte Community College, they don’t require a doctorate.”

“Well, of course not. Not at a _community college_.” Lynesse chuckled with derision. “But think how much better it will be when you get your doctorate and can get a _real_ job at a _real_ college.”

“Do _you_ have a Master’s, Lynesse? That reminds me, where’d you go to college?” Jon schooled his voice before either he or Sansa could scream bloody murder. “Let me guess….somewhere _super-impressive,_ I bet.”

She smiled pompously and held out her hand for Jon and Sansa to see her class ring. “Only if you consider The Citadel of Westeros to be super-impressive.”

“Oh, our friend Sam is at The Citadel.” Sansa smiled genuinely.

“Who’s Sam?” Lynesse asked Edd.

“I told you about Sam, sweetheart.” He nodded when Lynesse shook her head. “From the Night’s Watch.”

“Oh, you did. Silly me, I thought you were _joking_.” She snickered in return. “I just couldn’t imagine such a thing…. a Black Brother at _The Citadel_.”

The clenched fist Jon had to make upon hearing that knocked his glass of wine from the table and onto his dress shirt.

 

 

“Okay, we’re _leaving_ , right?” Sansa asked as she and Jon stood in the restaurant’s bathroom and she blotted the red wine from his shirt with a wet towel. “Are we even gonna be able to choke down our food with that despicable snob sitting across from us?”

“Sans. If it were just her at the table, I would’ve left a long time ago.” Jon agreed. “But we can’t make things weird for Edd.”

Sansa shook her head, dropping the towel on the counter. “How does Edd not see what she is?”

“Edd’s never been the most self-confident of guys. Maybe he just can’t believe someone he thinks—and _she_ thinks, obviously—is better than him actually wants to be his girlfriend.” Jon let out a deep breath. “We have to go back out and try to make the best of it.”

“I don’t know that you want me to do that, Jon.” Sansa told him firmly, reopening the door. “Disparage my dress, and community colleges, and camping, and The North all you want. But you belittle _Sam_? I might have to cut that skank.”

 

 

“So how is your place here in White Harbor, Edd?” Jon asked once they were back out at the table. “Sansa and I were just saying on the way here how much fun we had out on your patio at your last nameday party.”

“Oh, um,” Edd cleared his throat and took a gulp of his wine. “I’m probably gonna leave it and move to a place at Manderly Estates.”

“Manderly Estates?” Sansa questioned, brows furrowing. “I know that place. Aren’t the apartments a little pricey?”

Jon smiled proudly. “You must have gotten a promotion at the mechanic shop.”

“No.” Lynesse answered for him. “He’s just gotten a second job in the call-center for the club, working the scheduling lines for the boat slips.”

“That’s right.” Edd sheepishly answered when both Jon and Sansa refused to look at Lynesse and continued looking at him. “Only way I can afford the apartment Lynesse thinks I should get.”

“And maybe it will turn into a full-time job and he can quit the shop.” Lynesse added, patting Edd’s arm. “He can’t stay a mechanic forever if he wants to have a better life.”

“Really?” Sansa finally turned to Lynesse and cocked her head. “One of my suitemates at King’s Landing University had a father who was a mechanic, and he was one of the most fulfilled men I’ve ever met. And he managed to put her and three of her siblings through the same college.”

“Oh,” Lynesse quirked her eyebrows. “Well, they must have all had need-based financial-aid.” She shrugged. “I hear they do that at some of those universities.”

Jon’s chin dropped to his chest, but when he looked back up at Sansa for solidarity, she smirked at him as if to say: ‘ _I’m the one who wanted to leave, sweetling._ ’

“Well,” Sansa twined her fingers with Jon’s. “I’m of the opinion it doesn’t matter where you went to school, or _if_ you went to school, or what your job is, or where you live—as long as you’re happy.”

“Oh sure.” Lynesse waved her hand patronizingly. “Well, Edd’s just lucky I’m staying in White Harbor for a while. Northern boys are fine as long as Reach girls stay in The North, but not if those same girls go back to The Reach.”

Sansa squeezed Jon’s hand in a death grip. “Well then, it must not matter that they’re madly in love—seems my brother and sister-in-law _are doomed._ Since he’s a northern boy, she’s a Reach girl and they live in Highgarden.”

“Highgarden, you say?” Lynesse laughed, touching her chest. “Really. Would I know her?”

“Margaery Tyrell.”

“Margaery married a northerner?” Lynesse snickered again, so hard she doubled over. “Well, that’s not surprising. The Tyrell family’s sort of fallen out of repute, you understand. As most girls are reluctant to take on Willas because of……well, you know.” She then leaned in closer to the table to whisper. “And we all know what Loras is.”

“Excuse me?” Sansa scoffed in disgust at her. “I think both Willas and Loras are lovely.”

“Oh, I’m sure you think they are.” Lynesse condescendingly reached to touch Sansa’s hand. “But _you_ can’t really be the litmus test for what _my_ class of people think of someone.”

“And thank gods for that!” Sansa shouted back.

Jon brought one hand down hard on the table and one hand to try to hold back Sansa. “Okay, Edd? I’m not trying to make trouble for you, since you were one of the best mates I had in The Watch, but Lynesse hasn’t gone longer than thirty seconds without saying something awful since we got here and I’ve kept my mouth shut. But Sansa’s been the love of my life for as long as I knew what that meant, and she—“ he paused, pointing at Lynesse. “just insulted her.”

Edd held his hands up in a pacifying gesture. “Maybe WE—“ he began, looking directly at Lynesse. “should just _take it easy_.”

“Edd, Edd.” Lynesse touched his arm, then looked apologetically at Jon and Sansa. “I am sorry, I truly am. This is a problem of mine.” But then she unfortunately continued, “Sometimes I forget that I can seem quite prissy……specially to _average_ people.”

“No.” Jon’s voice rose. “ _Margaery_ can seem quite prissy, and she’s become one of my favorite people…..you’re just a _bitch_.”

 

 

“ _How could you not stand up to him on my behalf? It was absolutely horrible what he said to me!!!!”_

_“He said ONE horrible thing to you!!! You haven’t STOPPED saying horrible things to them all night. Maybe I just never noticed it before, but I don’t think you’ve stopped saying horrible things since I MET YOU!!!”_

Jon and Sansa stood side by side at the front window of the restaurant, looking out onto the sidewalk where Edd and Lynesse fought.

“Maybe we should have left after all.” Sansa leaned her head on Jon’s shoulder. “Or maybe we should’ve been pounding the wine heavily from the moment they brought us the bottle as a way to drown her out.”

“Hey, wine wouldn’t have helped. You only had one little sip, I was the one drinking. And yet _I’m_ the one who finally snapped. I had to do it though,” Jon kissed her forehead and chuckled. “disparage mechanics, and universities, and northern boys, and fallen-from-grace Reach families all you want. But you belittle my Sansa? Skank had to get cut.”

 

 

“Thanks for taking me back to my apartment, guys.” Edd told them from the backseat of their car.

Sansa looked back at him sympathetically. “Sure thing, Edd.”

“Yeah,” Jon turned his head, apologetic look on his face. “I really am sorry if we caused a problem for you, buddy.”

“No need to feel sorry, Jon.” Edd nodded. “And the problem you caused tonight is _way_ less than the problems I would’ve had if I’d stayed with that—with _her,_ any longer than tonight.”

“Edd, maybe it’s not my place,” Sansa started, looking at him in the rear-view mirror. “but you’re such a good guy. Why would you ever want to be with someone like that to begin with?”

“Oh, I don’t know that I ever really _did_. But it’s not that easy for everyone,” Edd acknowledged sadly. “We can’t all be as lucky as Jon and have the same girlfriend for thirteen years.”

“Three years, man.” Jon corrected. “Sansa and I’ve only been together for _three_ years.”

“Whatever you say, mate.” Edd laughed, reaching up to slap Jon’s shoulder. “Sansa, you should have seen his happy face on mail day up at The Wall when he got a new letter from you. We’d all laugh at him so hard. Behind your back of course, Jon.”

“Oh yeah.” Jon replied, chortling. “Good to know.”

“Anyway,” Edd kept on. “We all thought he was a fucking idiot when he told us he had a new girlfriend and her name was…….Ygritte. ‘ _Why the hell doesn’t he realize Sansa’s already his girlfriend? What’s wrong with him_?’ we’d all ask.”

Jon nodded, smirking. “But that was behind my back too though, wasn’t it, Edd?”

Sansa laughed. “Well in all fairness to Jon, I was a fucking idiot back then, too.”

 

 

“I like your dress, by the way.” Jon told Sansa as he came out onto the back porch where she was leaning against the post, looking out as their new white wolf puppy played in the backyard.

“I figured you would.” She smiled back and held out her hand to him. “It’s green. And did you see it has wolf graphics checkered into the fabric?”

He took her hand, pulling her into his chest. “Yeah. I like the wolf bit.”

“So,” she looked up, a twinkle in her eyes. “apparently I’ve been your girlfriend for a lot longer than I realized.”

“Or _I_ realized.” He laughed.

“Don’t feel embarrassed. I remember in college when you used to get FaceTime service at The Wall during certain times of the year. With the time difference for when you’d get off duty, it’d be around 4am in King’s Landing and I’d still stay up to talk to you.” She chuckled, tracing his shirt buttons. “Margaery used to tease me because _nothing else_ , not even the actual boyfriends I had at the time, could entice me to be up at that ungodly hour.”

“I took pictures of classified landscapes just because they were beautiful and I thought you’d like to see them. So, I risked a court-martial for you. And that means I win.” He paused when she doubled over in laughter. “Cry me a river over your late nights, Stark.”

“You think Edd really isn’t upset?” She asked, sobering slightly. “I mean, I know he’ll be better off, away from a horrible woman who’d say those things. But still, I know you didn’t want to make that choice for him.”

“Night’s Watchmen don’t let others make their choices for them.” Jon affirmed. “Edd just needed reminding of that fact and then he made the decision on his own.”

“Okay,” Sansa wrapped her arm around Jon’s middle and they both grinned when Ghost howled softly at the moon.

“But, while we’re on that note.” Jon voiced, gently disentangling her arm. “It _is_ because of something the horrible woman said tonight that I decided to move this up from when I planned to do it, two weeks from now at your birthday party.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring with tiny engraved white-gold weirwood branches surrounding an oval ruby. “This is for you.”

She stared at it where it rested between his fingertips. “Jon, is that-.”

“I know how your sometimes-self-doubting mind can be, and I didn’t want you to think—even for the split second before I told you I had this made weeks ago—that I did it just because what she said about marriage had wormed its way into my head.” He smiled at her as she finally looked up from the ring into his eyes. “I desperately want to marry you. Anyone who’s not an idiot could see that I’ve always wanted to marry you. Do you think you want marry me, as well?”

“No.” She stated simply, but quickly gave him a watery smile. “I _know_ I _desperately_ want to marry you, as well.”

He let out a loud breath and put it on her finger. “You had me worried for a moment there.”

“Well, then you must be an idiot, Jon. ‘Cause anyone else could see that I’ve always wanted to marry you.” She laughed happily, looking down at her hand. “Oh my gods, Jon. It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah, that’s because I had Margaery help me design it.” He shrugged. “I wanted it to be as beautiful as the one Robb gave her, and you know I have no taste in jewelry.”

“And just who do you think helped Robb design Margaery’s ring?” She winked before kissing him soundly.

“Well, because Margaery helped me it means Robb’s known for weeks. And then of course it spread like wildfire through the whole rest of your family.” He stepped back, grinning happily. “I am sorry we don’t have some huge announcement to shock them with at your party like I’d initially planned.”

“Oh, don’t worry….we do.” She patted his chest and pulled away. “I’m afraid me helping Robb design her ring and Margaery helping you design my ring will have to be where the similarities end.” She stepped off the porch to bring Ghost inside. “As, you see, we’ll never be able to pull off a wedding the size of Margaery and Robb’s in the next seven months.”

“Why does it have to be in the next seven months?” He shouted after her.

“Since we’re already getting married,” she shouted back. “I’d like it to be by the time the baby gets here.”

“Oh…….wait, _what_?”

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> And yes, I've actually known people like Lynesse. Ugh.


End file.
